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Re: Translation, etc.

Larry Hurtado, Religion, Univ. of Manitoba wrote,
>Well, Ken, I'd say that Christian tradition has tended to understand the
>Holy Spirit as (1) giving a readiness to receive truth, (2) a submission
>to the truth, (3) and incentive to learn the truth, (4) and a deeper (or
>"higher") appropriation of the truth (e.g., John 14-16).  But the faith
>that the Holy Spirit imparts needs some level of understanding, and for
>this we need good old hard work and hard thought, and mutual dialogue,
>benefiting from those whose gifts and training we may not have been
>privileged to have shared.  

Granted, good old hard work, thought and mutual dialogue go hand in
hand with understanding.  I question the medium of understanding.  On
earth, in human affairs, good old hard work, thought and mutual dialogue
go far to encourage understanding in the mind.  The Holy Spirit, as God,
is a spirit.  I therefore contend that any proper and true understanding of
the Word of God (which I hope we both recognize as a Spirit of God
inspired and generated document) must arise through the medium and
instrumentality of the spirit and not the mind.  I do not exclude the mind
and the reasoning power of the mind.  I simply put the spirit first as
the primary place of divine revelation, then relegate the mind as the
handmaid (so to speak)--a helper--of the spirit.  In this way, those who
know Greek have no monopoly on spiritual truth because they are
closer to the actual words and thoughts of the human writer.  Anyone,
from any walk of life, if she or he has the Spirit of God living within
them, therefore has the Author and thus the actual Writer of the words 
of the Bible no matter what language it happens to be translated into.
We cannot consult with the original human writers of the Word.  We 
can, however, consult immediately and directly with the original Divine
Writer of the Word--and to me, that is better by far.

K.H.

Ken Hall
Voice:  894-5559
Pager:  655-0362
e-mail: ken.hall@business.gatech.edu
Georgia Institute of Technology
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